The present invention concerns an automotive jack with a convex adapter head.
Jacks, especially those of the present genus, include a leg with a load-supporting arm pivoting on it with the arm""s free end engaging or engaging below a recess or below a supporting surface in or on the vehicle being lifted. Such jacks entail problems. First, any relative rotation between the arm""s free end and the vehicle must be compensated. Second, care must be taken to ensure that the arm""s free end engages immovable against the vehicle. Various forms of attachment have been proposed for achieving this objectivexe2x80x94with pivoting inserted mandrils, pivoting vehicle supporting plates, or, as disclosed in German 9 418 720 U1, convex adapter heads on the arm""s free end.
Although the adapter head disclosed in German 9 418 720 U1 does provide some freedom in compensating the angular displacement between the jack and the vehicle, the embodiment has the drawback that the convex head can never be secured horizontally below the vehicle""s bottom or sill. This in turn entails the risk that the jack can slip out of position as or after it lifts the vehicle, which can accordingly fall and severely injure the operator.
The object of the present invention is accordingly a simple, well defined, and reliable means of securing the convex adapter below the vehicle""s bottom or sill.
The present invention features several advantages. The means of positioning the jack immovable below the vehicle being lifted are simple. A number of versions also ensure that the jack can be secured paralleling the length of the vehicle. Furthermore, an embodiment ensures that the operator, usually untrained in that jacks need to be resorted to very seldom at the present state of automotive technology, will need to have recourse to no additional means of establishing the pivoting component at the proper angle below the bottom of the vehicle.